Rebirth
by manic
Summary: Debts once paid can never again be called.


For the Crossed Hex Challenge on 30 Minute Fics:

It was a contentious meeting of The Order. Six weeks after the accident in the corridors and The Order was without a spy and quite frankly getting outwitted at every turn. Even Moody reluctantly admitted that Snape had been useful. No one truly appreciated the information until it was gone.

And gone it was.

Severus had lain in hospital for two weeks after the 'incident.' Once he'd been released, he'd remained at Hogwarts another week before everyone resigned himself or herself to defeat. The Potions Master was gone. In his place was a sixteen-year-old boy who hated everyone and everything. It had taken this long to get him to come to the house, and once there, more than one member of the Order longed for the times Severus darkened the door with his presence. What they had instead was an unpredictable sixteen-year-old who hated all of them and was loyal to none.

He stood in the centre of the room, having refused both seat and refreshment. Arms crossed, hair as greasy as every, he had yet to have the final growth spurt that would bring him to full adult height. Yet for all that, there was something missing from the boy, a sense of purpose that Snape had. No one could even figure out what to call him.

For this Severus Snape, the incident at the Whomping Willow was only weeks ago. It had been a mere three months since he'd been hoisted upside down by James and the other Marauders. He hated all of them and couldn't stop the smile that spread over his face when told the fate of two of the Marauders. They 'd barely been able to restrain him from hexing Remus silly when he saw the werewolf in the meeting.

Albus sighed. It had been bad enough the first time.

"Severus," he began, hoping that the boy before him, despite all evidence, remembered something of the past twenty years. This Severus was a ball of hatred and fury, which he'd once been able to channel into a man he trusted with his life.

The boy looked at him with a hatred that Albus fought not to recoil from. It was to such an extent that Molly Weasley gasped and Shacklebolt discreetly reached for his wand. The slight vibrations that went through the room gave a measure of the power the boy possessed, and alerted most of the Order members to the danger before them, and outside the house.

The boy remained still, not responding to Albus.

"Once before you stood before me and I asked you to complete a task. One that you were still involved in at the time of your accident."

"Taking out your wand and hexing another student is anything but accidental, Headmaster. Takes time for that. Why do you persist in calling everything a Gryffindor does as folly, Old Man?"

Albus fought to keep calm, twenty years and he'd forgotten the betrayal and rancor Severus once held towards him. He missed his friend.

"Severus, I know that certain events that are were once your distant past are now your present memories, but there is a threat to the here and now that you must help us with. Voldemort is gaining power and attacking both Muggle and Wizard targets, and you are the one who must help."

"What do I have to do with it?"

"You're a Death Eater who's now our spy, Snape." Harry Potter interjected. Albus could have throttled the boy, the last thing Severus needed reminding of was James Potter and any offspring.

Severus whirled to face Potter, the first time since Potter and Granger had crossed hexes in the corridor and he'd been returned to his younger self. "I would never join the Death Eaters. I could care less about their lot, or yours. All I want is to be left alone and be as far away from the last six years as possible. I can't wait to leave Hogwarts, I can't wait to be done with you and your lot, and the last thing I would do is join the Death Eaters." Severus snarled at Potter.

Harry made to argue with Severus, but Albus stayed him with a wave of his hand.

"You joined the Death Eaters to fulfill a life debt Severus. As you no doubt recall, you owe James Potter a life debt for his actions that night. Almost twenty years to the day, James, you and I met in my office and James called the debt. You joined the Death Eaters at our request and became a spy for the Order. You never were a Death Eater Severus, but you were always our spy."

At that, Severus looked even angrier. "You forced me to take the mark, to become a slave to Voldemort and all that entailed? Potter called the debt he himself created? Did you manufacture the entire incident Headmaster?"

As before, Albus avoided the question.

"You owe us Severus. You must return to Voldemort, the Order is crippled without the information you've provided."

"As you said Headmaster, Potter called the debt. I owe you and your lot nothing. All I ever wanted was to be left alone and for all my time at Hogwarts Potter and his crew never left me alone. I owe you nothing. Bugger you all."

With that Severus left the house. Surprisingly enough, Fawkes followed him. Never again did the phoenix sit at Albus' side.

That summer was the bloodiest in sixteen years.

Mid-July as the tired and beaten Order met, they'd been pushed to their breaking point. Voldemort's attacks were increasing in their frequency and violence. The last attack had left seventeen dead and forty-seven wounded. In the midst of a meeting that taxed everyone, Fawkes appeared with a message in his beak. He dropped it on the floor and disappeared in a blaze of flame that managed to char the rug.

Albus opened the note and instantly recognized the hand that laid ink to it.

He cleared his throat and read the parchment to the group.

"This I choose. For Slytherin and the honor of my house."

What followed were Voldemort's plans.

But Albus never again saw his friend.


End file.
